


Behind The Scenes

by dean_colette



Series: Space Between Us [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Comfort, Fluff, Keith's Paladin Vlog, Keith's Vlog, M/M, soft klance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-22
Updated: 2017-09-22
Packaged: 2019-01-03 22:07:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12155760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dean_colette/pseuds/dean_colette
Summary: “I can’t believe I almost broke down in front of Lance, goddammit. And the whole team will see that.” He groaned. “Good going, Keith.”-(Basically, what happened before and after Keith's Paladin Vlog.)





	Behind The Scenes

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this last night right after watching Keith's paladin vlog for the 200th time lmao. And I did a quick editing this morning beCAUSE I HAVE CLASS DFBVSDFKJDH I'll edit this again later once I get back from uni.  
> Have fun!

“Why do I need to do this again?” Keith grumbled as he took the seat in front of the camera that Coran and Pidge set up earlier for this. He glared at the object, as if expecting it to answer his question.

“Oh, come on. You gotta do this for the team, Keith. I actually don’t know why you get to do it first before me?” Lance answered while curiously looking at the camera. He tapped his finger against his chin and with his other hand, he gestured to Keith. “Scoot a bit to the right.” Keith obliged. “There!” Lance smiled. “Now, let’s start this baby rollin’!” He was about to press play when Keith shot up from his seat, his palms slammed against the table in the process.

“Wait! You’re going to watch me?”

“Yeah? Duh? Why do you think I joined you here?”

“To escort me? Then, leave and stay outside?”

Lance raised a brow at him. “I didn’t know His Majesty thought I’m some kind of his body guard. Nope. I’m here to make sure you don’t mess this up.”

“You?” This time, it was Keith who raised a brow to him. “You’d probably be the reason I’ll mess this up,” he answered as he flopped down to his seat and crossed his hands across his chest. Lance wouldn’t leave now. Obviously.

He didn’t expect though, that Lance would sit in the chair across him, rest his cheek against his palm and lazily cocked a finger gun to his direction. All the while wearing that charmi- _annoying_ smirk on his face. “Aw. Is my good looks too much of a distraction? Don’t worry, that happens. It’s cool if we do like…thousand takes. I wouldn’t even tell the others about it.”

“Do you think you’re funny because you’re really not,” Keith retorted and mentally pat himself on the back for how tough that sounded. _Didn’t stutter at all. Good._ With that, Lance dropped his flirtatious act and stuck his tongue out. A petty Lance. Better. Something Keith can handle. “Why did they send you to watch me anyway?” he asked, sincerely.

Lance shrugged. “Beats me. We can’t all watch you because, obviously, that’d make you uncomfortable. And we can’t leave you alone because who knows what you’d do to the poor camera. And they were like, ‘Go on, Lance. Join him.’ And I was like, ‘Okay?’ So here we are!”

“Weird.”

“Very weird.”

Silence.

“Are we gonna do this or nah?” Lance asked after a short while.

“I don’t know what to say.”

“Just be yourself.”

“Yeah, because that’s very lovely.” Keith leaned back to his chair.

“We don’t need you to be lovely. We need you to be real. I mean, look at Coran! He talked about his space pirate thing, or something. You can…talk about your knife?”

“What a great topic, Lance.”

“Oh shut up. Stop making this complicated. Just talk about stuff. If you’re about to cry, just signal me and I’ll cut the scene to give you a tissue.”

That got Keith’s attention. “I won’t cry!”

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of. Crying is normal.”

Keith wanted to believe that Lance was mocking him but the guy made it sound so sincere. No, he was sincere. Keith rubbed his forehead with his index and middle finger before staring at Lance with a fixed glare. “Let’s just do this.”

“Sweet! Goodluck.”

Lance stood behind the camera and counted with his fingers. “3…2…1…Action!”

Keith crossed his arms across his chest and stared at the lens. _Here goes nothing._

* * *

 

“I can’t believe I almost broke down in front of Lance, goddammit. And the whole team will see that.” He groaned. “Good going, Keith.”

After storming out of the room about an hour ago, _in the middle of his Paladin Vlog,_ Keith made his way back to his room, took off his Paladin suit, threw himself in the bed and attempted to suffocate himself by burying his face in the pillow. Now, lying on his back, staring at the low ceiling, Keith contemplated his earlier actions.

He didn’t expect that he’d react that way. Especially, not in front of Lance, or anyone for that matter. It just…happened. Like a lot of things in Keith’s life, it just happened.

Yes, Keith has been thinking about his mom a lot. When he was a child, he often questioned where she is. Vocal, at that. He’d asked his father multiple questions, to which none of them would be given straight answers. A few years later, he realized that the reasons why his father can’t answer him was because he didn’t know either. Or he was hiding something.

Looks like it was a combination of both.

And months ago, he found out his mom is a Galra. Or at least, has a Galra-blood.

Keith has never been so clearheaded yet baffled at the same time. That alone answered the question why his father never talked about her. Why he never met her. But it opened up more questions. And a lot were still unanswered.

How?

Why did she leave them? Him?

Where is she now?

It all boiled up that his mere mention of his Galra genes had him thinking of his mother and the sudden realization that she was part of the reasons why Keith was so closed up. It was true. His own mother, _own blood,_ left him. Rejected his existence. Who’s to say his friends wouldn’t do the same?

Pushing people away before they have the chance to be close to him is a lot better than letting them in only to have them leave eventually.

Keith grimaced. Now he has abandonment issues, too. Great. Another outstanding quality.

He was saved from his internal turmoil by a knock on his door. “Keith? It’s me.”

Ah fuck. It’s Lance.

Keith can’t handle this now. When he stormed out of the room, he caught a glimpse of Lance’s expression. Confused. Concern. Those were the two emotions written on his face.

Suffocating.

Maybe if he pretended to be asleep Lance would leave eventually. Yeah. Good ide-

“Keith, don’t even try to pretend you’re sleeping. I can practically hear that excuse all the way here.”

Okay, maybe not a good idea.

He sat up from his bed. Running his hand against his hair to tame it a little, he called out, “Just come in.”

The door opened and it showed Lance- whose eyes immediately darted to him from his position in his bed. His eyes were inquiring. Slowly, Lance walked his way to Keith until he was standing beside his bed.

“What are you doing here?”

The way Lance stared at him made him queasy.  He felt vulnerable.

“Checking on you.”

“I’m good.”

“I wasn’t asking that. I’m saying I’m checking on you. Doesn’t matter if you’re okay or not.”

“How does that make sense?!” Keith asked, his voice cracking. Lance could be so frustrating at times and Keith was tired.

Before Keith realized it, Lance had already flopped down on the bed, removed his shoes then, proceeded to push Keith by his shoulder until he moved. Lance, then proceeded to lie down beside Keith on the now cramped bed.

"H-hey! Go sleep on your own bed!"

"I won't sleep! And this wouldn't work if I go on my bed."

"Work what?"

"Comforting you."

Keith stared at Lance, as if seeking if he was joking.

He was not.

Lying flat on his back, his head resting on Keith’s pillow, a hand lazily draped on his stomach, his unzipped jacket pooling on each of his side, his shirt rode up and showed a strip of bronze skin. Keith had to mentally scold himself to _don’t try to look._

He was looking at him with concentration that Keith had only seen him wear during his shooting training. Mouth pressed in a thin line, eyes inquisitive, face void of any emotion.

He was the one looking up at Keith yet it was Keith who felt vulnerable. Like he was under him. And Keith wasn’t a fan of vulnerability so when Lance told him to lie down, he did it. Only to avoid being the target of the intense gaze. He scooted as far as he could to the wall. But it was no help. Lance was still pretty much pressed up to his side.

For a while, there were no words. The only noise audible were the sound of their breathing and the light rustle of the bed when each of them do as much as to adjust positons.

Keith could see Lance. From the corner of his eyes, he could see his teammate closing his eyes. Lips slightly parted to let out the softest exhale. Keith wondered what was he thinking about.

Keith could smell Lance. The scent of vanilla permeating his senses. Keith wondered what kind of soap he used because none of the other Paladins smelt like vanilla. You could only smell as sweet when fighting in space. But Lance always had this scent. Even after a battle, Keith can always smell the underlying natural odor. Not that he was intentionally sniffing Lance. No. That would be weird.

Keith could feel Lance. The warmth pressed against his side was hard to ignore. He was hyperaware of every twitch, every shiver, every little move of Lance. Keith almost wanted to call him out because of this. But Lance wasn't the one at fault, it was Keith's, for being so attentive of Lance's presence.  
In his defense, Lance shouldn't have lied beside him.

Keith was about to break the deafening silence when he felt something linked with his index finger. A quick look and he saw that it was Lance’s finger. He almost coughed his lungs out. “Lance, what the fuck are you-?”

“Don’t resist!” Lance argued once he felt how Keith was trying to wiggle out of his hold. “I’m comforting you!”

“Is this your way of comforting someone? It sucks!” Keith answered, but nevertheless, he relaxed against Lance. Though, he could still feel his heart hammering in his chest.

“No. But my usual way of comforting people wouldn’t work on you! So, I’m trying to be as subtle here. Don’t want you to think I’m being creepy. Cut me some slack man. We both don’t know what to do. But we’re both trying so that’s cool.”

Keith finally turned his head to gaze at Lance.

Just in time that Lance did the same. Keith was suddenly overwhelmed by the sight of blue eyes that seemed to stare right to his soul. Their face were inches apart, and Keith could feel Lance’s breath fanning his face.

Suffocating. But also, comfortable.

“I’m…trying?” Keith whispered.

“Yeah? You lie down beside me and relaxed when I told you to. That’s trying. Good job,” Lance whispered back, his lips twitching to a smile.

Keith blinked at him. Then, resumed to stare at his ceiling. He saw Lance did the same.

“You see, buddy, I’m going to be so sappy here. Be ready,” Lance started, voice soft. “I won’t force you to talk if you don’t want to, okay? That’s your choice. But anytime, if you want to talk, and if you feel like it’s okay to, you can come to us anytime. Not specifically me, but the others, too. We’re a team now. A family. And family means no one gets left behind or forgotten.”

Lance stopped at that, as if waiting for Keith’s reaction. When Keith said nothing, Lance chuckled. “You didn’t get the reference, did you?”

“Reference?”

“Nothing. Nothing. We can work on that some other time.”

“Weird.”

A few minutes of silence passed before Lance spoke up again.

“You know I was serious back there? When I told you it’s okay to cry? Because it is. It’s understandable. All of us here have reasons and the right to be upset. There’s no need to bottle up everything in yourself when you have us. Of course, I still stand by my earlier point that you should only open once you feel like it’s okay to. But once you do, we’ll understand you. Even if we don’t, we’ll try our best to understand you.

“We’re all experiencing different types of hell here. Shiro with his PTSD. Allura with the grief of losing her planet, her people, her father. Me with my homesickness. You with your- “

“Abandonment issues,” Keith supplied.

“…Right. My point here is, aside from saving the universe, we need to save ourselves, too. Your emotions are valid.”

Silence again.

“And that’s the end of the most uncomfortable pep talk ever! See you in the next installment!” Lance shouted, humorous now, but Keith heard the underlying awkwardness in it. It made him smile.

“No, that was good. A lot better than I could, at least.”

“Well geez, you’re no competition at all in that field.” Keith scowled. “Kidding!” Lance laughed.

Silence. This time it was Keith who broke it.

“About…the talking thing. Maybe someday. Just…slowly. I’m- I’m not used to this so…slowly,” he said, almost embarrassed.

“Cool.”

“And you could do the same? Even though, I’m the worst person to go to if you need it.”

“I got it, man. Thanks.”

Silence.

“You sounded like you were in pain.”

“Shut up, Lance. Hey, did you show the others the vlog already?”

“No. I figured I should get your approval first. That’s why I went here an hour later. To give you an alone time and to think things through. We can film again?”

“No, that’s okay. You guys need me to be real, right? That one is real and unfiltered.”

“Sure?”

“Yes.”

“If you say so.”

After that, they drowned in a comforting silence.

Keith wasn’t magically okay. His issues were still in him. His mother still left him.

But Lance’s words hit close to home. Because that’s what he needed. He _didn’t_ know he needed. A reassurance that he will be understood. A reassurance that he wouldn’t lose anyone by simply talking.

No, he wasn’t perfectly fine, yet. But for now, staring at the low ceiling, with Lance’s warmth pressed up against him, and a subtle, yet warmer reassurance of a smooth finger linked with his, he could say that for now, he could breathe. He wasn’t afraid.

“Hey, Lance.”

“Hm?”

“Thanks.”

From the corner of his eyes, he could see Lance turning his head to look at him, his lips stretched in a wide smile.

“I got you, buddy.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Keith's Vlog is a blessing.  
> Come scream with me on [tumblr](https://s-h-a-r-p-shooter.tumblr.com/) I have so many emotions goddammit.  
> Kudos and comments are highly appreciated! Please validate me lmao. Thanks for reading!


End file.
